WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most low-performing public schools —
including charter and conventional schools in Michigan — rarely improve and
rarely close, according to a Detroit Free Press report on a new national study.

Michigan was among 10 states studied by the Thomas B.
Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, for its
report titled “Are Bad Schools Immortal?”

The study found that "low performance is remarkably
stubborn" in Michigan, the Free Press reported, despite provisions in the
federal No Child Left Behind Act that allow school closure as a consequence for
poor performance.

In 2003-04, about 37 percent of Michigan's charter schools were designated as
low-performing on state tests, compared to 7 percent of traditional public schools,
the Free Press reported. In 2008-09, among the previously identified charters,
75 percent were still doing badly, while 10 percent had closed. Among
low-performing conventional public schools, 90 percent still lagged behind and
5 percent had closed.

The Free Press said the study cited two Michigan schools as evidence that the
charter sector was "somewhat" more successful at closing weak schools.
Tri-Valley Academy of Arts and Academics in Muskegon was closed in 2008, while A.L.
Holmes Elementary in Detroit Public Schools was identified as "persistently
lowest-achieving” despite an overhaul in 2005-2006.

Kisha Verdusco, a spokeswoman for DPS, told the Free Press
that Holmes is now operating under a federal school improvement grant with a
new principal, literacy coach and “reconstituted” staff.